Following this past weekend’s “Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson” event
at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, officials confirmed that a return to
Ohio is a real possibility.

A big reason why? Roger Bowling and Jorge Gurgel, two Ohio-based fighters who both posted impressive victories at the event.

While those two bouts took place on the untelevised preliminary card,
they’re now available for free viewing, courtesy of Strikeforce.

Bowling, a Cincinnati native who
went 1-1 in a pair of Strikeforce Challengers bouts with Bobby Voelker in 2010, made his “Arena Series” debut in a bout against fellow welterweight Josh Thornburg. The Cesar Gracie-trained fighter and Gladiator Challenge vet was the only non-Ohio fighter on the preliminary card, which featured nearly a dozen Buckeyes.

The hard-hitting Bowling, a veteran of Ohio-based organizations such as MMA Big Show, looked to deliver Thornburg his first career knockout loss.

Gurgel, who owns an MMA gym in West Chester Twp. (between Dayton and Cincinnati), looked to snap out of a 1-4 skid when he took on Billy Vaughan, a late replacement for Tyler Combs. Despite his recent losses, Gurgel is a favorite in Ohio, and hundreds of his friends and students packed Nationwide Arena early to watch his preliminary-card fight.

Although he admitted he felt a bit disrespected by being left off the night’s Showtime broadcast, Gurgel said he felt the pressure to perform for his hometown fans. The Brazil native also knew his Strikeforce future likely hung on the outcome of the fight with Vaughan, a Columbus-based fighter and fellow jiu-jitsu specialist. (The Gurgel vs. Vaughan video can be seen below.)

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?